[Rancher] Operational Advisory, 20201105: Related to Docker Hub rate limits

Dear Rancher Customer,
 

As announced by Docker Inc, the rate-limiting by Docker Hub is expected to progressively take effect beginning Nov 2.

We have been engaged in direct conversations with many of you on the possible impact of this rate-limiting and steps toward managing that.  This operational advisory is a summary of those conversations.

Do the rate limits apply to Rancher images that we pull anonymously?

No.  To ensure customers pulling Rancher resources are not affected by this, Rancher Labs has partnered with Docker, Inc. so that pulls from the Rancher namespace on Docker Hub are exempt from these limits. 

If you run into any rate-limiting issues with images hosted in the Rancher namespace, please let us know.

What about images that are outside the Rancher namespace that we pull anonymously?

Yes. Rate limits do apply to the images that are outside of the Rancher namespace. 

What can we do about the limits on images outside the Rancher namespace?

We can introduce you to the right contact at Docker Inc should you be interested in procuring an exemption for your org based on something like an IP range.  This is to derisk being limited on image pulls outside of the Rancher namespace.

What other practical options can we pursue?

Other options to mitigate this issue are:

• Moving from anonymous pulls to authenticated pulls on Docker Hub
• Copying resources to a private registry

The viability of these options depends on the specific context of your environment.

Are there any plans to host Rancher images elsewhere to help alleviate the potential issues caused by this?

We are looking into alternates to Docker Hub. There have been recent offerings announced by AWS and GitHub. We are exploring them as well as other options and should have an update on this from our product management in the near future.

Thanks,

Rancher Support Team

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